Read how VoIP leveraged all the knowledge developed by the technology sector and became a mainstream building block of voice service.

Over the past 10 years, Voice over IP (VoIP), once seen as a niche, has become a mainstay of converged services. What began as a quirky technique for communications between PCs on the Internet has grown into a sustainable mainstream technology that fully supports consumers, enterprise business, and carrier-grade operations. Today, VoIP provides the network foundation for the complete integration of voice, video, and data services with enterprise business applications. To appreciate the technologies of today, we need to consider the evolution that brought us here. The development of communications has been filled with wondrous advances in our ability to share information and ideas.